- Trump drops frivollous IRS suit in exchange for apology, $1.776 billion fund for victims of government weaponization
Source: New York Post
“President Trump has dismissed his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for an apology and the establishment of a $1,776,000,000 billion [sic] fund to compensate victims of federal government weaponization. Anyone who believes they have been unfairly targeted by any administration could apply for compensation from the the Justice Department’s new Anti-Weaponization Fund — including those charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and even disgraced former first son Hunter Biden, a senior administration official told The Post. … President Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric and the Trump Organization — all of whom were plaintiffs in the IRS suit — are not entitled to any compensation from the fund, but will receive a formal apology.” (05/18/26)
- Philippines: Senate convenes as impeachment court to try vice president
Source: ABC News
“The Philippine Senate convened as an impeachment court Monday for the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte over criminal charges, in a time of deep divisions that erupted into an exchange of gunfire last week in the chamber. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach Duterte last Monday over alleged unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and a public threat to have the president assassinated if she herself were killed due to their political disputes. The vice president, who has announced her plan to seek the presidency in 2028, has denied the charges but has refused to answer the allegations in detail.” (05/18/26)
- UK: Tube strikes called off by RMT union
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A wave of strikes starting on Tuesday by London Underground drivers has been suspended by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT). Drivers were due to walk out at 12:00 BST on Tuesday and resume on Thursday in a dispute over the voluntary introduction of a four-day week with condensed hours. On Monday, the RMT said ‘at the 11th hour the employer has shifted its position allowing us to further explore our members concerns around the imposition of new rosters, fatigue and safety issues.’ Transport for London (TfL) described the suspension as ‘good news for London.’ Industrial action planned for 16 and 18 June has been suspended but fresh strikes have been called for 2 and 4 June.” (05/18/26)
- NY: Mangione prosecutors can use gun and notebook as evidence, judge rules
Source: NBC News
“The judge overseeing the state murder trial of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, ruled Monday that prosecutors can use a gun and a notebook as evidence. Judge Gregory Carro’s ruling effectively rejected Mangione’s lawyers’ argument that those items were seized illegally, delivering a partial victory to prosecutors. However, Carro said prosecutors cannot admit items found in Mangione’s backpack when he was arrested at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania two years ago, including a loaded magazine, a passport and a wallet. Authorities have previously described the red notebook found in his bag as a ‘manifesto.’ Mangione’s arrest came five days after Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, was shot dead outside a Manhattan hotel as he walked to an investors’ conference.” (05/18/26)
- Greece: Colossal tomb tied to Alexander the Great revealed by officials
Source: Fox News
“Greek officials have unveiled the interior of a massive ancient tomb possibly linked to Alexander the Great as archaeologists continue excavation and restoration work. Greece’s Ministry of Culture announced the news in a statement on May 11. The excavation centers around the Kasta Tomb in Amphipolis, the ruins of an ancient Macedonian city in northern Greece, about 60 miles northeast of Thessaloniki. … Researchers believed Kasta Tomb was ‘built for someone very close to Alexander the Great,’ such as his mother, one of his wives or one of his friends, National Geographic reported in 2014.” (05/18/26)
- Spain: Shakira acquitted in tax fraud case
Source: Seattle Times
“A Spanish court acquitted Shakira in a tax fraud case, ordering the government to return more than 55 million euros ($64 million) in wrongly imposed fines, a court document seen Monday by The Associated Press said. The decision follows years of tax troubles in Spain for the Colombian superstar. The ruling relates to a dispute over the 2011 tax year in which Spanish tax authorities did not prove that the singer was a resident of Spain, the Madrid-based court said in its decision.” (05/18/26)
- Italy: Foreign minister says divers found bodies of four Italians dead in Maldives sea cave
Source: SFGate
“Italy’s Foreign Ministry said Monday rescuers have located the bodies of four Italian divers believed to be deep inside an underwater cave in a Maldive atoll. The searches had resumed on Monday after being suspended following the death of a local military diver during a perilous mission to try to reach them. … The body of one Italian — a diving instructor — was found earlier outside the cave.” (05/18/26)
- South Korea: Samsung strike involving 47,000 workers looms as president urges labor deal
Source: CNBC
“South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday called for both labor and management rights to be respected as an 18-day strike at Samsung Electronics looms. … A final round of talks between the union and Samsung’s management was scheduled for Monday. The union’s demands center on Samsung’s performance-based bonus system. It is seeking performance bonuses equivalent to 15% of Samsung’s operating profit, the removal of bonus payout caps, and a formalized bonus structure, among other measures. Samsung’s management has offered to allocate 10% of operating profit to bonuses and provide a one-time special compensation package, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.” (05/18/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/18/samsung-strike-lee-jae-myung-labor-deal.html
- Mediterranean Sea: Israeli pirates board aid flotilla vessels
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Pro-Palestinian activists say Israeli [pirates] are intercepting a flotilla of more than 50 boats carrying aid for Gaza in international waters west of Cyprus. The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) said its fleet was being boarded in what it called an illegal act of piracy about 250 nautical miles (460km) from Gaza, which is under an Israeli maritime blockade. Its video stream showed armed [pirates] climbing onto several boats. There was no immediate comment from Israel.” (05/18/26)
- Single Psilocybin Dose Provides Rapid Relief From Depression, Small Clinical Trial Finds
Source: US News & World Report
“Just a single dose of psilocybin can provide rapid relief from depression, a new small-scale clinical trial has shown. Within a week, people treated with one psilocybin dose had four times the decrease in their depression symptoms compared to a control group given the vitamin niacin, researchers reported May 15 in JAMA Network Open. And after six weeks, half (nearly 53%) of the psilocybin patients had no depression at all, compared with about 6% in the control group, the study found.” (05/18/26)
- France: Football match descends into chaos as furious Nantes fans breach security, storm pitch
Source: Fox News
“A French football match descended into a terrifying riot, forcing players to flee for their lives. The Ligue 1 clash between FC Nantes and Toulouse FC was abruptly abandoned. A massive mob of hooded ultras breached stadium security, stormed the pitch and turned the arena into a war zone. The score was tied at 0-0 when the stadium erupted in violence. … Clad in black and concealing their faces, the rioters hurled dangerous flares and pyrotechnics directly onto the playing surface. … Riot police equipped with tactical gear were forced to march onto the field to quell the escalating unrest. After a tense standoff, police successfully pushed the invading supporters back into the stands. Refereeing officials and local authorities quickly determined that player safety could no longer be guaranteed, and the match was permanently called off.” (05/17/26)
- DC: Cultists rally in support of antichrist
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The administration of United States President Donald Trump has hosted a nine-hour prayer event on the National Mall in Washington, DC, as part of its efforts to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary. Sunday’s event was called ‘Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise and Thanksgiving,’ and it took place from 9am to 6pm Eastern US time (13:00 to 22:00 GMT). On the jubilee’s website, organisers explained that their aim was to mark ‘rededication of our country as One Nation to God.’ … Members of the Trump administration, including the president himself, also recorded video messages that were broadcast from the stage. Trump’s video showed him seated behind the Resolute Desk in the White House, reciting a speech from the Book of Chronicles that God gave to King Solomon, promising protection to his followers and destruction to those who forsake him.” (05/17/26)
- NYC: Woman gives birth in courtroom during drug charge arraignment
Source: New York Post
“A pregnant woman shockingly delivered a baby boy in the middle of a packed Brooklyn courtroom while waiting to be arraigned on a drug possession charge. Samantha Randazzo, 33, went into labor surrounded by police officers, prosecutors and court personnel during her arraignment in Brooklyn criminal court on Friday night, according to a joint statement from the Legal Aid Society and several other public defender organizations. … The Legal Aid Society and Brooklyn Defender Services — which each had attorneys in the courtroom for other arraignments — claimed Randazzo was shackled and handcuffed during the delivery without ‘adequate medical care, privacy, or dignity.'” (05/17/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/05/17/us-news/woman-gives-birth-on-courtroom-bench-during-nyc-arraignment/
- Spain: Conservatives lose majority in Andalusia, making far-right deal likely
Source: Politico
“The conservative People’s Party won an election in Spain’s Andalusia region but looks to have lost its majority in the local parliament, in a setback for the party’s moderates as they prepare for next year’s general election. The underwhelming result — which saw the People’s Party lose seats to its left and to its right — means it will now almost certainly need the backing of the far-right Vox party in order to form a new government.” (05/17/26)
- Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship docks in the Netherlands for disinfection
Source: SFGate
“The cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has docked at the Dutch port of Rotterdam for disinfection, wrapping up a troubled journey that put international health authorities on alert. The MV Hondius was carrying 25 crew members and two medical personnel as it reached Rotterdam on Monday morning, after all the passengers disembarked elsewhere. An Associated Press journalist saw people board the boat via pier wearing white hazardous materials suits. A short distance from where the ship docked, authorities had set up 25 white containers along the water in between a line of windmills. The crew will enter immediate quarantine, with those who cannot be repatriated spending their time in quarantine in these containers with satellite internet and catering, said the port’s harbor master, René de Vries.” (05/18/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/hantavirus-stricken-cruise-ship-expected-to-22263980.php
- Will Affordability Bankrupt President Trump?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by James Bovard“Trump constantly blusters as if he deserves the Nobel Prize for Economic Triumphs, just like he supposedly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. In a January speech in Iowa, he doubled down on his triumphs by referring to himself in the third person: ‘Just after one year of President Trump, our economy is booming …. Incomes are rising. Investment is soaring. Inflation has been defeated.’ Unfortunately, Trump’s record on the economy is as shaky as his claims that he ended eight wars. The core wholesale inflation rate rose in January at an annual rate of 9 percent. ‘Howl louder’ has been the president’s response. Beginning late last year, the affordability issue made Trump schizophrenic.” (05/18/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/will-affordability-bankrupt-president-trump/
- The dangerous allure of a post-Netanyahu Israel
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man“Israel is officially entering election season, and with it comes the perennial and inescapable excitement among some progressives in the United States who are eager to see Israeli voters send Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu packing. That excitement, however, is an illusion. It is built on a belief, long clung to by American supporters of Israel, that Israel without Netanyahu would somehow become a liberal democracy that aligns more with their own values. That illusion is based on a false view of Israeli policy in the decades before Netanyahu’s reign.” (05/18/26)
- What do “laws” prove?
Source: Kent’s “Hooligan Libertarian” Blog
by Kent McManigal“In a discussion about the effect of self-driving cars on cops and their DWI grift, someone said, ‘Self driving cars are a fantasy. They do not have the ability. They can assist but cannot drive themselves.’ Now, this is objectively not true. Someone else pointed out. ‘I’ve seen them driving around downtown, sans human driver.’ The Luddite’s response. ‘They are not reliable. Several have ran over pedestrians and they have been the cause of accidents.’ I pointed out, ‘Humans are even less reliable, unfortunately.’ So, he responded, ‘If that is true then why is it required for a person to be at the wheel and paying attention while the vehicle is driving itself?’ … That ‘laws’ require something dumb isn’t an argument. It proves nothing.” (05/18/26)
https://kentmcmanigal.blogspot.com/2026/05/what-do-laws-prove.html
- Stop fearing a strong Russia — start fearing a dying Russia
Source: The Hill
by Emzari Gelashvili“Russia entered the war at maximum sustainable capacity without general mobilization. After years of attrition, it has burned through most of its Soviet-era equipment stocks. Given Russia’s weakened state, a conventional confrontation with NATO is not only unlikely now, but it has become almost impossible — prohibitively expensive and demographically unsustainable. The real strategic risk is not a confident Russia launching a conventional assault on the Baltics. It is the behavior of a cornered, nuclear-armed state that perceives itself in terminal decline. A leadership facing military failure and domestic crisis may calculate that tactical nuclear signaling or hybrid escalation offers its best chance to reset the board.” (05/18/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5880263-russia-decline-military-economy-2026/
- Taxes and Government Fees Make Up 25 Percent of Car Rental Fees
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“With gasoline averaging about $4.50 per gallon — over six bucks if you’re unlucky enough to live in California — President Donald Trump proposes a gas tax holiday to give American consumers a bit of relief. A reprieve from taxes is always welcome, but the real bite isn’t the federal 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline and 24.4 cents on each gallon of diesel fuel. States charge far more, and that’s especially true if you rent a car, with gas taxes the least of the problem. In some places, more than half the tab for car rentals comes from taxes and government-mandated fees.” (05/18/26)
https://reason.com/2026/05/18/taxes-and-government-fees-make-up-25-percent-of-car-rental-fees/
- Trump Reigniting Iran War Proves It Was Failure From the Start
Source: Common Dreams
by Trita Parsi“The Middle East is once again teetering on the brink as Trump appears poised to reignite war with Iran. Press reports indicate he will convene military advisers on Tuesday, though my understanding is that both the meeting and the decision are likely to come sooner. Over the past several hours, Trump has flooded Truth Social with a barrage of incendiary threats. While some of this may be theatrical brinkmanship designed to force Tehran into submission, sources in the Iranian capital tell me they expect the United States to resume hostilities within the next 48 hours. We should first recognize that restarting the war amounts to an admission that Trump’s previous escalatory gambit — the blockade of the blockade — has failed.” (05/18/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-restarting-iran-war
- Kevin Warsh’s Impossible Mission
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul“President Trump’s ‘solution’ to the economic problems facing many Americans is lower interest rates. Jerome Powell, who Warsh is succeeding as Fed chair, has refused to lower rates to the level desired by President Trump. This is a big part of why the president has said he chose not to reappoint Powell. Concerns that Warsh would allow President Trump to dictate monetary policy help explain why only one Democratic Senator voted for Warsh’s confirmation. Lowering rates may slightly reduce credit card and other interest rates paid by consumers. However, it will further erode the dollar’s value, thus further reducing Americans’ real incomes and causing them to go further into debt.” (05/18/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/kevin-warshs-impossible-mission
- Medicine by Captivity: The Rise of the Hostage Physician
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joseph Varon“I have now spent four decades practicing medicine. … Most physicians did. That is the part many people outside medicine still do not fully understand. Doctors do not sacrifice years of their lives, miss holidays, destroy their sleep schedules, and carry this kind of emotional burden because they dream about maximizing throughput metrics or documentation compliance. We entered medicine because we wanted to help people. It sounds simple saying that now, maybe even naïve, but it is true. Somewhere along the line medicine changed. Hospitals changed. The language changed first because that is always how these transformations begin. Patients slowly became ‘throughput issues.’ Beds became ‘capacity management.’ Discharges became ‘flow optimization.’ … Everything slowly started sounding less human and more operational. And eventually, hospitals stopped feeling like places centered around caring for human beings and started feeling like giant processing centers where movement itself became the priority.” (05/18/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/medicine-by-captivity-the-rise-of-the-hostage-physician/
- How Marco Rubio morphed his way into Trump’s inner circle
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by Linda Feldmann“As a United States senator from Florida, Marco Rubio was a high-profile ‘neocon’ – a hawk on China and Russia, a strong supporter of Taiwan, Ukraine, and NATO, and an advocate for free trade and human rights. Today, not so much – at least on those issues. As both secretary of State and acting national security adviser, Secretary Rubio is fully on board with President Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy: more ‘Art of the Deal’ use of American leverage, including tariffs, less hard-line absolutism with other major powers. Mr. Rubio’s evolution shouldn’t come as a shock. After all, he is no longer his own boss; he works for President Trump – in two key capacities, the first to hold both titles since Henry Kissinger in the 1970s.” (05/18/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2026/0518/rubio-trump-foreign-policy
- The Hungry Boar
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders“A Parable of Power and Subversive Innovation.” (05/18/26)
- Dems’ idiotic rhetoric on courts reveals what they’re really after
Source: New York Post
by David Harsanyi“The contemporary leftist [sic] is a consequentialist with no limiting principles. After the Virginia Supreme Court stopped the Democrats’ unconstitutional gerrymandering scheme, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, now the favorite Democratic Party presidential prospect 2028 in a number of polls, claimed that the court ‘didn’t overturn a map’ but ‘overturned an election.’ ‘The power of the American people, that should be the ultimate check on all three branches,’ she declared. In any other age, vocalizing illiterate nonsense about our system of governance might be an embarrassing career-ending flub. Today, it’s the norm among progressives.” (05/18/26)
- Economics is Intuitive: Rejoinder to Craig
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“Basic economics makes psychologically normal humans angry and disgusted. Usually mildly, but the uglier the economic lesson, the more extreme the anger and disgust become. … They don’t think very carefully, but they still have strong opinions against, say, letting developers buy up townhomes in San Francisco to replace them with skyscrapers. Which is very weird. Why would anyone have strong opinions about issues they haven’t thought about very carefully? Because they’re relying on emotion instead!” (05/18/26)
- Trump’s Cabinet dramatically changed American foreign policy while the president made noise – a scholar of presidential rhetoric explains
Source: The Conversation
by Kevin Maloney“The president’s rhetorical style, heard most recently on his mid-May trip to China, is explained by political allies as part of Trump’s strategic approach and criticized by his opponents as the dangerous musings of an unstable leader. In either case – whether it’s Trump’s defenders or detractors – it is increasingly difficult to ascertain whether the language of the president signals actual policy positions from the White House. If the words of the American president no longer function as reliable indicators of U.S. foreign policy, where can the public, U.S. allies and America’s adversaries look to better understand the administration’s geopolitical priorities? One answer may be found by examining the words of key Cabinet members.” (05/18/26)
- Decades of Bad Energy Policy Left Oil Markets Vulnerable to Iran Shock
Source: The Daily Economy
by Rebak Attila“Current energy prices reflect the delayed costs of regulatory priorities that misallocated investment and undermined energy resilience.” (05/18/26)
- The Lines We Thought Machines Wouldn’t Cross
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith“In 2000, the world braced for Y2K. It came with a date and a remedy. There was panic about doomsday but as I and other programmers stretched the year field from two to four characters, apart from scattered hiccups, the lights stayed on. Everything about Y2K was known — the problem, the solution, and the deadline. Q-Day is something else entirely. Q-Day is shorthand for the moment when quantum computing crosses a line we assumed would hold — when the mathematics that secures modern life can be broken, and broken quickly. On Q-Day the locks will be quietly and rapidly picked. And the unsettling part is that the thief may already have your safe, waiting for the day the combination becomes trivial to compute.” (05/18/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/lines-we-thought-machines-wouldnt-cross
- Last Thing Needed
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“‘I think the last thing we need right now is a war that’s 9,500 miles away.’ Just place a period after the word ‘war’ in President Trump’s comments to reporters, after last week’s summit with Chinese ruler Xi Jinping and discussion about China’s democratic neighbor, Taiwan, the Republic of China. Which raises the question: How best to avoid war over Taiwan?” [editor’s note: That one’s easy — the US regime minds its own business. “Problem” solved – TLK] (05/18/26)
- The GOP’s Midterm Reversal of Fortune
Source: Townhall
by Kirt Schlichter“Winston Churchill once observed that there’s nothing quite like the feeling of being shot at and missed. The Republicans are enjoying that glorious sensation as we speak. Thanks to redistricting decisions in various courts as well as some surprising examples of GOP manhood in their wake, it looks like November is a jump ball. The midterms were supposed to be a rendezvous with disaster, and historically, the tides are still against us. But Democrats have just had the miserable experience of discovering that fate is fickle. Recent events have made it so that Republicans have a fighting chance, and our joy and relief that we’re not necessarily destined for doom is amplified by our delight in hearing Democrats squeal in agony as all their dreams die.” [editor’s note: The midterms are nearly six months away. Six months is forever in politics, so take all predictions with a grain of salt – TLK] (05/18/26)
- Quantum Vibe, 05/18/26
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott BieserCartoon. (05/18/26)
- Boomers vs. Doomers
Source: Law & Liberty
by Jeffery Degner“Forty years ago, the one-hit wonder, Timbuk 3 harmonized, ‘the future’s so bright, I’ve gotta wear shades.’ In the four decades since, the long-run trends in consumer sentiment cast a decidedly darker outlook. Consumer sentiment measures Americans’ views on their economic future, and it’s been getting consistently more dire over time. When that demoralization becomes ingrained in a generation’s psyche, ‘eat and drink, tomorrow we die’ becomes more than a slogan; it becomes a way of life. One of the institutions most dramatically undermined by this persistent gloom is the family.” (05/18/26)
- Our Own Cognitive Dissonance Is Concealing the Epstein Network
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Christine E Black“Distract and minimize, confuse and deny, justify and excuse, become angry or enraged, and call crazy those who speak what others do not want to see or hear. In the throes of cognitive dissonance, people resort to all these ploys to relieve their internal discomfort. These horrible events could not possibly be true; the abuse could not possibly have been this widespread, some insist. Governments could not possibly have covered up this sex criminal’s harms, over decades, regardless of which political party was in power while people investigating are connected to those being investigated, as reported by Whitney Webb.” (05/18/26)
- Palantir Gets an Initial $3.9 Million to Spy on Federal Workers
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish“The Trump administration is building a surveillance network to spy on its own workforce across multiple agencies. It has already given Palantir an initial $3.9 million to do so at the Department of Agriculture (USDA), federal spending disclosures show. The artificial intelligence war profiteer will ‘design, configure, deploy and manage a secure, user-friendly tool to track USDA employees’ return to the office,’ according to a disclosure. The contract started May 1 and has the potential to grow to $13.3 million over the next fiscal year, which runs from October 1 to September 30.” [editor’s note: I have no problem with it … as long as all data collected are viewable by the public in real time – TLK] (05/18/26)
- Trump Sues the IRS and You and the Constitution
Source: CounterPunch
by Kary Love“When Trump ran for president of America, and swore his oath, he was telling the world he would preserve and defend ‘due process of law,’ against all enemies foreign and domestic. Due process of law was one critical principle the great American rebels died and bled and fought to establish as a foundation of America itself. Mr. Trump is engaged in a scheme to be ‘judge in his own case’ against the IRS and you (because you pay the IRS, any dollars awarded in the case are your dollars.) Because the IRS and the DOJ ‘representing’ the IRS in the case both work for the President, Mr. Trump ‘decides’ his own case.” (05/18/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/05/18/trump-sues-the-irs-and-you-and-the-constitution/
- The Man Who Seeks To Rule the World
Source: Antiwar.com
by Lawrence Wittner“Although Donald Trump has never been modest about his abilities or reluctant to exercise personal power, during his second term in office he has shown clear signs of megalomania.” (05/18/260
https://original.antiwar.com/lawrence-wittner/2026/05/17/the-man-who-seeks-to-rule-the-world
- Hucksters Amongst Us
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen“Many people are writing about why Americans have lost trust in universities. There are, of course, financial reasons, including — at least plausibly — the now higher unemployment rates of recent college grads and the ever-increasing cost of tuition. I leave these to the side. I’ve written about this before but here quickly lay out what I see as a major reason for the loss of trust. Start with the fact that many universities have stopped providing the service they were meant to — and historically did — provide. That service? Providing a system of education that creates well rounded individuals capable of independent critical thinking applicable to anything and which expands the intellectual abilities. Those universities have switched to providing career-specific education. Or what they think is career-specific education.” (05/17/26)
https://prosociallibertarians.substack.com/p/hucksters-amongst-us
- Therapy culture is turning politics into a national nervous breakdown
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Alpert“As a psychotherapist, I increasingly see people interpreting political disagreement through a framework usually reserved for emotional threat and psychological harm. Opponents are no longer simply viewed as wrong. They’re experienced as toxic, dangerous, unsafe, narcissistic or morally beyond redemption. Once that shift happens, the emotional intensity rises quickly. People stop feeling like fellow citizens with different ideas and start feeling like threats. … Concepts like ‘trauma,’ ‘safety,’ ‘validation,’ ‘triggering’ and ‘boundaries’ can be useful in the right context. But when applied too broadly, they begin subtly transforming disagreement itself into something psychologically destabilizing. That shift has enormous consequences.” (05/17/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/therapy-culture-turning-politics-national-nervous-breakdown
- Mental Illness May be a Myth, but Trauma is a Societal Crisis
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid“As [Thomas] Szasz shows, this conspiracy to domesticate civilization’s neurological malcontents is achieved by declaring our numerous eccentricities to be medical ailments treatable by a variety of forms of therapeutic coercion, from the simple quick fix of pharmaceutical intervention to our involuntary internment at glorified prison camps deemed inpatient facilities. Szasz didn’t reject psychotherapy entirely, however. In fact, he encouraged its widespread use as a means for consenting adults to seek outside guidance in order to ‘learn more about themselves, others and life.’ In other words, Dr. Szasz advocated that therapists behave more like shamans than priests while deriding any notion of mental health being pathologized as a corrupt junk science that deprives the individual of autonomy and basic human dignity.” (05/17/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/05/mental-illness-may-be-myth-but-trauma.html
- So how much does recycling really, really, cost?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“Recycling some things is sensible, others not so much. Recycling the 4 tonne rare earth magnet in an ocean going windmill makes excellent sense. Pulling the tiny rare earth magnets out of EarPods very much less. The rare earth content of a metal halide bulb is in the milligrammes range — collecting a million lightbulbs to produce a few kg of something worth perhaps $300 is insane. The overall aim is, after all, to preserve resources. Which is entirely fine, obviously, but we must be accurate about what is a resource that must be saved. The human effort which goes into this work is, we insist, one such resource that must be added into the calculation. Collecting a 4 tonne magnet, collecting 1 million lightbulbs. The time people must spend sorting household rubbish for recycling is one of those resources.” (05/17/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/so-how-much-does-recycling-really-really-cost
- Are You Brave Enough for Nonviolence?
Source: The Reframe
by AR Moxon“People who care, people who don’t. Un-realism and ignore-ance. If you aren’t comfortable now, why were you comfortable before?” (05/17/26)
https://www.the-reframe.com/are-you-brave-enough-for-nonviolence
- EconTalk, 05/18/26
Source: EconTalk
“Tom Cruise’s Body of Work (with Aled Maclean-Jones).” (05/18/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/tom-cruises-body-of-work-with-aled-maclean-jones/
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 05/18/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rages Wildly at Journo — and Accidentally Exposes Big Iran Blunder.” (05/18/26)
- Free Talk Live, 05/17/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“The 90s were the best :: VPNs :: Ricky has restored his honor :: Is inflation theft? :: No one knows who they’re voting for :: Felons and voting rights :: Wild new idea; parents should do the parenting :: 2026-05-17 Hosts: Lori, Rich E. Rich, Penguin.” (05/17/26)
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/17/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Creating Pretexts for Attack on Cuba, Trump Threatens To Restart Iran Bombing, and More.” (05/17/26)
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 448
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Ryan Walters on the Presidency of Warren Harding.” (05/17/26)
https://rumble.com/v79zdbg-ff-448-ryan-walters-on-the-presidency-of-warren-harding.html